6 weird animal facts explained

Confession: My dog gets nervous around her reflection. I wish I was kidding. Sometimes, she’ll just get up and start barking at her reflection in the window or the mirror. It’s actually pretty hilarious, and one of her many weird quirks (and totally normal).

Second confession: One of my friend’s cats refuses to drink water that’s in a dish on the floor — it must be on a counter. Talk about spoiled!

Animals can be kind of strange with their personality traits or habits. To humans, their behavior may leave us scratching our heads, but there is an explanation behind them:

1. Eating Feces — this one can be a little gross, but don’t get worried if you see your dogs or rabbits eating feces. In dogs, it’s a behavior known as coprophagy. Most dogs eat it out of boredom or curiosity, but there is some history behind it as well. In the wild, mothers may eat their young’s feces to avoid tracking predators. As for rabbits, they need to eat their excretions. (Ew.) It’s used to keep and store beneficial bacteria and nutrients.

2. Chattering — this habit is only present in felines and is usually directed at squirrels, birds or other small creatures outside. The chatter could mean a couple of things: your cat is excited or frustrated or, according to a study, mimicking potential prey. Beware if your cat starts talking…

3. Addiction — is there a group called Running Wheel Addicts Anonymous? Maybe your hamster needs to join. If your hamster is running excessively on its wheel or through ladders/tunnels in its cage, it may be running based off of natural instinct; wild hamsters are known to run for miles in search of food. Looks like someone is prepping for a marathon. Other potential reasons explained here.

4. Attention-Lover — have you ever been on the phone and your cat comes up and starts meowing loudly? Your cat may see and hear you talking to no one and think you’re talking to them.

Gratuitous picture of my dog when she was a puppy. #adorable

5. Slam into Walls — ferrets sometimes run straight into walls or pieces of furniture. Don’t be alarmed, or laugh too hard: ferrets have poor vision, which can explain some of their clumsy behaviors.

6. Adoption —it’s common in dogs to “adopt” a thing as their very own, treating it like a baby doll or blanket. In females, it may be because their hormones are sending off a “false alarm pregnancy.” After some time, your animals will probably lose interest in the item.